Palestinians disappointed by Bush's UN speech

The Palestinian labour minister said yesterday US President George W. Bush's perceived swipe at Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat would encourage Israel to hold to a hardline against them.

Bush called in a UN address, which focused on Iraq, on both Israel and the Palestinians to carry out commitments they made under a stalled US-backed peace plan.

But in an apparent reference to Mr Arafat - whom the United States has sought to sideline - Mr Bush said the Palestinian cause was being "betrayed by leaders who cling to power by feeding old hatreds and destroying the good work of others".

"The Palestinian people deserve their own state and they will gain that state by embracing new leaders committed to reform, to fighting terror and to building peace," Mr Bush said, echoing remarks he has made in the past.

Palestinian Labour Minister Ghassan Khatib called Bush's remarks unconstructive.

"It does not serve the cause of democracy when President Bush does not distinguish between a president who 'clings to power' through elections and one who does so by other methods," Mr Khatib said. Palestinians elected Arafat president in 1996.

"One of the bad things about such statements is that it encourages Israel to continue diminishing the rights of the Palestinian people and their leadership," Mr Khatib told Reuters.

The result, he said, could be more violence in a struggle for independence rather than a move towards peace and stability.

There was no immediate Israeli comment on Mr Bush's speech. The United States and Israel accuse Mr Arafat of fomenting violence in a three-year-old Palestinian uprising for statehood, an allegation he denies.

After Palestinian suicide bombings killed 15 Israelis two weeks ago, Israel issued an open-ended threat to "remove" Mr Arafat, and the United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution aimed at blocking his possible expulsion.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli troops killed an Islamic militant who tried to enter a Jewish settlement.

Raising fresh prospects for relieving the diplomatic impasse, a Palestinian newspaper said Israel could free 215 Palestinian security detainees next week as part of a prisoner-swap deal with Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbollah.

But Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz played down speculation a deal, mediated by Germany, was imminent and said it would not include Marwan Barghouthi, a leader of the Palestinian uprising and member of parliament.

Barghouthi, who is widely popular among Palestinians, is on trial in Israel on charges he orchestrated attacks in which 26 Israelis were killed. He has denied encouraging violence.

Israel has been negotiating for the release of Israeli businessman Elhanan Tenenbaum, a reserve officer, and the bodies of three soldiers captured on the Lebanese frontier in 2000.

Hizbollah wants the return of 15 Lebanese including guerrilla leaders Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid and Mustafa Dirani, seized in 1989 and 1994 as bargaining chips for a missing Israeli airman, as well as Palestinians, Syrians and Jordanians held by Israel.